PISA

A series of reports on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment’s (PISA) periodic testing program on student performance. The reports generally compare student (15 year olds) academic performance across countries, or discuss the methodology used to gather the data.

Most parents know instinctively that spending more time with their children and being actively involved in their education will give their children a good head-start in life. But since most parents have to juggle competing demands at work and home, there never seems to be enough time or they feel ill-equipped to help.

This book from OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has some good news for concerned parents: it does not require a Ph.D or unlimited hours for parents to make a difference in their children's education. In fact, many parent-child activities that are associated with better reading performance among students involve relatively little time and no specialised knowledge. What these activities do demand is genuine interest and active engagement.

"I enjoyed reading Let's Read Them a Story! The wide sample of countries shows the universality of the conclusions - conclusions which reassure parents that it is important to simply transmit the pleasure of reading to our children. No need to exhaust oneself finding the latest trendy children's books or educational toys; parents should simply read to children, enjoy reading themselves, and make family time to discuss what we've read." -Kristine Minski, mother of two

Education begins at home. The first simple word a parent speaks to an infant opens the world of language to the child and sets the child on the path of exploration and discovery. When formal schooling begins, many parents believe that their role as educators has ended. But education is a shared responsibility of parents, schools, teachers, and various institutions in the economy and in society. New findings from PISA show that parental involvement in education is pivotal for the success of children throughout their school years and beyond.

The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has some good news for stressed and concerned parents: it does not require a PhD or unlimited hours for parents to make a difference in their children’s education. This chapter discusses how parental involvement benefits students – and how particular forms of involvement may be more beneficial than others.

Parental involvement in a child’s education should start at birth – and never stop. This chapter shows how telling stories or reading books to children when they are very young is strongly related to how well they read and how much they enjoy reading, later on.

Older children benefit from their parents’ involvement, too. This chapter discusses how talking about social and political issues, or about books, films and television programmes with adolescent children is related to better reading performance at school.

When parents take the time to meet their child’s teachers, or when they volunteer for activities at school, they signal to their children that they value education. This chapter examines some of the ways busy parents can be involved in school activities and emphasises that parents and teachers should not wait to meet each other.

Children – even older children, although they may not want to admit it – look to their parents as role models. This chapter explores how children whose parents have more positive attitudes towards reading are better at reading, themselves, and enjoy reading more.

These checklists recommend specific ways in which parents can become more involved in their children’s education, and teachers, school leaders and policy makers can promote greater parental involvement.